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Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Wednesday Briefs: Lost Inside Chapter 19

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Today's Brief update is inspired by the prompt "Don't just stand there, run!" *winks* Wonder what that brings?!! Read on!

Lost Inside Chapter 19

Yuri
tucked his hands under the sheet, clenching them together. He wanted to rub his
wrists, but he had to keep them safe. He didn’t want the nurse to take off the
restraints, but when the doctor said to, she did anyway.

How
could he do it?

Yuri
couldn’t be a real mate to Benny—hurting him proved that. No matter what they
said to him about brain chemistry, venom, and seizures.

“No.
No, I don’t wanna to talk about it.” Yuri rolled over to face the wall. He
stared at the small sink, avoiding the mirror above it. Who was he?

His
head hurt. An edge of the white bandage showed in the mirror. Yuri jerked his
gaze away. Maybe the face in the flames was his. His stomach roiled when he
thought about what he’d seen, and Yuri squeezed his eyes shut. He watched the
lights and colors flash behind his eyelids, desperate for a distraction from
the inside of his head.

Why
had he done this? His claws dug into his hands. He wished he could dig them
into his head and drag the thoughts out. They wouldn’t stop.

Yuri
rocked back and forth.

***

Benny
watched helplessly as his mate mumbled and rocked. What the hell happened? He
leaned forward, but Yuri didn’t want to be touched. Benny’s knuckles were white
where he gripped the rail along the side of the bed.

This
wasn’t what he expected.

What
he wanted.

His
mate didn’t remember him, or anything else from their life before, it seemed.
He was in pain, screaming about an orange man or whimpering and swaying with
his arms tucked in close.

Why
had Benny told Ellis to bring the doctors there? The first mate Benny fell in
love with was long gone at the hands of his father. The cheerful, bouncy mate
Benny had only days to get to know was gone now too—at his hands.

“It’ll
get better,” the nurse said. She adjusted the liquid dripping into the tube
going into Yuri’s arms, and his rocking gradually slowed. The nurse was human,
like Ellis used to be, which seemed to reassure the other patients Benny watched
her with.

Yuri
didn’t even notice she was in the room.

Dr.
Poinyard entered the room. Yuri was asleep, finally.

“Resting,
I see.”

Great,
the guy was going to state the obvious. “Yes,” Benny growled. He clenched his
hands and heard an ominous crack. Damn it, he busted his phone. He dropped it
on the table beside him. “What’s wrong with him?”

Wires
still went from Yuri’s scalp to some machines behind his bed. He hadn’t even
noticed them. Dr. Poinyard tapped the screen on the computer. A virtual image
of a brain appeared. “We’re seeing increased activity in every region of the
brain that deals with memory. But this is way more than we expected.”

“He’s
getting all his memory back?”

“We’re
not sure. Right now, it’s like Yuri is on sensory overload. The synapses in his
brain are refiring and creating connections that either were missing or never
existed. Right now, even if we were to start testing him, he’d be unlikely to
remember real memories.

“Think
about it like watching fifty movies, all at the same time. Things would blend
and blur, and you’d never know where to look as the images changed constantly.
I hope some of this will ease as his brain absorbs the venom.”

“But
you don’t know for sure.”

Dr.
Poinyard sighed. “No. This is all experimental. All we can do is our best. I
promise we will do everything in our power to help Yuri heal.”

But
the next day wasn’t any better. The more stimulus there was around Yuri, the
worse he rocked. He refused to acknowledge any of them, not even Benny. Every
flinch from his touch tore another wound in Benny’s soul.

All
three doctors stood in the room around Yuri’s bed. Bashta had left with Cavel,
after sending another prayer to his Jaguar god. It didn’t seem to do any good,
but Yuri didn’t start screaming either.

“I’ll
bring him back, whenever you need to see him, or you can come to my apartment.
But I am taking him home now.”

Before
anyone could stop him, Benny had Yuri bundled up and blinking owlishly in the
passenger seat of his truck. His ears drooped, and his hands rested limp in his
lap. A nurse came trotting out of the clinic, but Benny didn’t stop for her
when she waved to him.

“We’ll
be home soon.” Benny stopped at a drive-thru and picked up some burgers with
lots of bacon. “Smell that? You love bacon.”

Yuri
didn’t answer him.

Benny
growled.

His
mate folded his ears flat, and Benny could smell a tinge of fear. Damn it! He
barely managed to stop his growling. He wasn’t mad at Yuri, he was made at
himself—he did this to his mate.

The
sun was beginning to set when they pulled up near Dav’s bar. He was thankful it
wasn’t busy—sometimes even weekdays there’d be a line outside the door. Benny
grabbed the bag of burgers. He went around to Yuri’s side of the truck and
opened the door.

“Holy
fuck.” Benny dropped the burgers and yanked Yuri of the truck. He shoved him
toward the bar. “Go! Don’t just stand there, run!”

Rage
coursed through him, and now he had a target. Benny flicked out his claws and
bared his fangs. He didn’t recognize the Tiger barreling toward them, but he
didn’t really care. It was about damn time the intruder showed his face.

Benny
was going to rip it apart.

TBC

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